The Business Year

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Construction firms across the country are taking advantage of public-private partnerships and other model methods to expand not only outside San José, but also into the rest of Central America.

José Miguel Brenes

General Manager, Edica

This year is our 60th anniversary. Throughout the years, Edica has been an important contractor for the government. A lot of the important work has passed through us, starting with the Children’s Hospital, the Juan Santamarí­a International Airport, the headquarters of Banco Nacional, the headquarters of Bank of Costa Rica, the ICE building in La Sabana, and more recently the Jade Museum. We have also done a lot of work for Recope and the full fire protection systems in both airports. The government has been a good client for us. Throughout the years, we have grown. At present, we have an office in Nicaragua, which opened in 2016. We are also opening another business within the construction sector. We have an area of real estate development as well. We have grown, expanded, and created new businesses, which is what Edica does. The most iconic project we are currently working on for the government is the Convention Center.

Gerardo Volio

Executive Director, Volio y Trejos Asociados

We began in 1983 as a small operation of four people with little capital. We started with houses and eventually picked up small projects building houses for well-known people and small businesses. It was not until we started in hotels that we began to cross into larger businesses, specifically Costa Rica Marriott and Real Intercontinental. We thought the construction of houses and hotels was more or less the same; however, we soon discovered the processes were quite different. The transformation was a positive experience. That was the first jump, and the next big milestone was working for Intel, which chose us as a general contractor for its plant in Costa Rica. That was a major change for us, not only because it was a large project, but also because of the culture of that company. Intel produced a ripple effect in Costa Rica and our company in terms of safety, which influenced us considerably.

Gastón Orostegui

General Manager, Gastón Orostegui

Globalvia has been in Costa Rica for a long time. In 2013, we got a concession contract for Route 27 that had been first assigned in 2000. The contract for Route 27 is strategic for the company and one of the best we have. It is also particularly strategic for the country, connecting the north region and tourist areas, as well as allowing the growth of Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM) and the new industrial area along the route. It makes great sense for us to have an urban portion of the route with high levels of traffic and to connect urban areas with a seaport. Moreover, because of good conditions here, there is potential to generate other business opportunities. Infrastructure projects are in general hard to get off the ground because of costs, but when the concession model started in Latin America around 20 years ago, it allowed public-private partnerships to generate new sources of financing. This happened in Costa Rica as well.

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